I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 66: Fishing
In just two days, the popularity of "The Top Scholar's Story" reached an alarming level. Basically, every satellite TV station and most people's livelihood programs mentioned it, and local TV stations in the neighboring Jianghuai Province broadcast it extensively.

The copyright was broadcast first and then purchased, because "Top Scholar's Talk" itself also has copyright, but it is not entirely in the hands of the provincial education channel. Part of the copyright is in the propaganda department of Shazhou City.

This led to a bizarre situation: the propaganda department of Shazhou City did nothing, yet picked up tens of thousands of yuan every few hours, accumulating over six million yuan in a single day.

Because of this, the vice mayor in charge of publicity came to investigate and found that it was the work of the local top scholar. He immediately ordered all units to "quietly enter the village and not fire a shot."

If the frontline staff in the propaganda department don't understand, doesn't he?
He could tell at a glance that this was not something Zhang Dangyang could have orchestrated, and that there must be a "mastermind" behind it all.

However, this "hidden hand" cannot be uncovered.

The premiere of "Top Scholar's Talk" was on Sunday. The original plan was for the next episode to be on the 9th, which is next Sunday. However, due to strong demand, the 1 p.m. slot on Monday was temporarily canceled. To capitalize on the momentum, "Top Scholar's Talk" will continue the next day.

It's a summer movie season after all; what's left after summer vacation?

Unfortunately, Zhang Da'an did not agree, so they had to give up. However, the provincial education channel did not sit idle. They assembled a few assistants for Zhang Dangyang, hoping that he could boost the channel's ratings. They couldn't always rely on Ultraman fighting monsters at six o'clock in the evening.

Zhang Dangyang almost got carried away, thinking he was getting a feast because of his own abilities.

Fortunately, when I called my father that night, he scolded me, which made me completely sober.

Everything he owns is in Zhang Da'an's hands.

The various training fees are one thing, but there's also the lighting design that had to be added to the control room on short notice. Those can't be covered by the meager production budget from the provincial education channel. All of these things require contracts, and if Zhang Dangyang gets carried away, those contracts will bring him back to his senses.

Once a hot topic emerges, so do discussions and controversy. Zhang Da'an himself has been interviewed by multiple media outlets and even saw a CCTV reporter who interviewed him last year.

However, this year is different from last year; he is the top scorer in the liberal arts this year.

Both sides were quite polite; it was a normal question-and-answer session, and then they parted politely.

The team that truly came with firepower was a group from Beijing TV. When Zhang Da'an went to the city to attend the Young Entrepreneurs Conference, the reporter conducted an on-site interview. They were very aggressive, as if they were launching a surprise attack on Zhang Da'an without his knowledge.

Fortunately, there were local media from Jiangkou Province both inside and outside the venue of the Young Entrepreneurs Conference, so you set up your camera and I set mine up too, to avoid any mishaps later.

This is where the drawbacks of surprise interviews become apparent. If you catch the interviewee off guard, you're definitely successful; but if the interviewee not only performs well on the spot but also isn't afraid of malicious editing, then you're putting yourself in a very difficult position.

At first, the reporter named Deng Xiaoling thought she had succeeded. She didn't believe that an eighteen-year-old could have such strong on-the-spot abilities, let alone an eighteen-year-old billionaire, even if he was a top scorer in both the arts and sciences in the college entrance examination.

She knew things were going badly as soon as they got started. The other party was not only calm but also had a lot of firepower, definitely the kind of firepower an eighteen-year-old would have.

"Hello Zhang An, I'm a reporter from the Science and Education program on Beijing TV. We heard you were having a meeting here, so we came straight over. We'd like to interview you about the college entrance exam and education. Is this convenient for you?"

Such surprise visits usually turn into finding a place to sit down and chat, and then there are many ways to play the game. After all, Zhang Da'an is not only the top scorer in the college entrance examination, but also the chairman of "Zhang'an Education," a genuine billionaire. Not just someone with assets of over 100 million, but a super-rich man who will be holding over 100 million in cash after this summer vacation, his extravagance is terrifying.

If this amount of money were to translate into Zhang Da'an's social status in six months, it would be really difficult to launch a surprise attack on him. Right now, it's a kind of vacuum period.

If an average person panics even slightly, they're bound to fall into a trap.

However, there was a reason why Zhang Da'an dared to flaunt his wealth with the "top scholar" claim; he was just fishing for attention.

Although it's unknown what kind of media organization it will be, there will definitely be some trying to cause trouble or just trying their luck.

The old trick of "deceiving the court with caning" will never be outdated.

However, things didn't go as Deng Xiaoling expected. She thought Zhang Da'an would move aside, but Zhang Da'an just casually started chatting with her at the entrance of the meeting venue: "No problem, ask me anything, but I need to see your work ID, just in case you're a fraudulent 'black reporter'."

"..."

The moment Deng Xiaoling heard him speak, she realized something was amiss. She had already launched a surprise attack; if he were to suggest finding a place to sit down and chat now, he would immediately lose the initiative and be easily outmaneuvered by his local counterparts.

Zhang Da'an was calm and composed. Today he had changed into a well-fitting suit. Normal people would be unbearably hot, but he was wearing a silk suit, so apart from the slightly hot shoulder pads, he was quite cool overall.

"Here's the thing, we saw you talk about starting a company on the show 'Top Scholar Talks.' After our on-site investigation, along with some past media reports, we found that you set extremely high tuition fees during the student recruitment process. Such high tuition fees are difficult for ordinary families to afford. Do you think this will further widen the gap between students from high-income families and ordinary families, or even poor families?"

"of course not."

Zhang Da'an found his position in front of the camera. When he turned to the side, the natural light on his face created a distinct interplay of light and shadow. This three-dimensional effect, combined with his already tall stature, created a striking artistic contrast with reporter Deng Xiaoling.

On camera, Zhang Da'an, like a strict teacher reprimanding a foolish student, spoke without hesitation: "First, I need to correct you on one point. That's not tuition, it's training fees. These students come here to learn test-taking skills and answering techniques, not to receive high school education. Second, saying the price is high is disrespectful to me. I have always emphasized on various occasions that I have mastered 'core technology.' I believe my technical theories are very valuable, and I have long planned to expand my business into the field of vocational education. In foreign countries, especially in developed countries in Europe and America, top trainers like me charge over $80,000, which translates to about 600,000 yuan. My current fees are equivalent to a 10% discount from that. Strictly speaking, compared to the fees I charge, my losses are the real high ones."

"..."

"Finally, you mentioned that it exacerbates the gap between students from high-income families and ordinary or even impoverished families. That's utter nonsense. Take Beijing as an example; there are over 300 educational training institutions that charge ten times my fees. This doesn't even include institutions specifically for students with athletic or artistic talents. Especially for artistic talents, a large chain of art exam training institutions can charge at least 100,000 yuan per person per year and can guarantee multiple special admissions slots to universities. I think that's the real issue..."

"..."

Zhang Da'an didn't care at all and just started talking, which completely stunned Deng Xiaoling on the spot.

No, bro, are you guys from Shazhou really this wild?

How can you say something like that?
(End of this chapter)